Hanford Laboratories Operation Monthly Activities Report September, 1957 (Deleted)

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REPOSITORY HANFORD LABORATORIES OPERATION MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT @?20*5 the disclosure of its conperson is prohibited. This report was prepared only for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission Contract W-31-109-Eng-52. Any views o r opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors only.

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DIS TRIB UTION Atomic Energy Commission, Hanford Operations Office E. J. Bloch, Director, Division of Production,

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Force Report and Personnel Status Changes ...............v Promotions and Transfers....................... vi General Summary..................... vii throughxii Reactor Development - 4000 Program Physics and Instrument Research and Development Financial Operation .................... 1-1 through 1-5

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BUDGETS AND COSTS In the absence of a firm financial plan, It may be misleading t o quote perfonnance sgainst budget. With this reservation, however, over-all expenditures f o r the first quarter came t o 22$ of the annual budget. A VLgorous Internal adjustment needs t o be made in the spending rate on behalf of weapons research and development f o r CPD, and process technology f o r IPD September costa increased about $62,000 over August. RESFARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 1. Reactor and Fuels The detail design of the Plutonium Recycle Program Reactor (PRF'R) is estimated t o be 14$ complete f o r the project as a whole and 90$ complete for Phase I only. A generalized plutonium fuel cycle analysis has been fonrmLated f o r progrannaing on the IBM 650 computer. plutonium material balance and isotopic composition are obtained as functions of a number of predetermined lattice properties, and modes of reactor and fuel cycle operation. Maximum allowable fuel exposure, In prelimFnary experiments vacuum injection casting of aluminum into long (6-7') cylindrical and annular sections of stainless steel jacketFng appeared t o be feasible. Intimate contact with the jacket walls and a low incidence of casting voids were observed. reduce the costs of Pu-A1 fuel element fabrication. This method could drastically Thequipment list and equipment procurement priorities for the Plutonium Fabrication Pilot Plant ham been revised t o maximize the degree of beneficial use of the facility by the summer of 1959, a year i n advance of completion of the total project. The first irradiation of cold swaged, zirconium-clad, U 0 2 capsules has been conducted uneventfully in the MCR. conductivity of mter i al compacted by cold swaging were not confirmed. Forebodings of poor them Developmental work by off -site zirconiun fabricators has yielded experimental PRPR and B,D, F-size process tubes w h l c h , although not without defects, represent substantial technological progress and lend encouragement that future commitments will be met.

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A fuel element design believed t o be amenable t o mint production with coolant water at a temperature of 300' C i s under preliminary study. The AEC is actively supporting the over-all HAP0 interest in eliminating a threatened delay of the order of six mnths in the installation of Hanford loops in the E2R; such delay would materially affect the Laboratories ' support of several programs. Ektensive comparative studies of fuel element closure by several different welding methods indicate that electron beam vacuum welding is outstandFng for use with reactive materials such as Zircaloy-2, as well as a cheap and effective method f o r closures of aluminum. Cans f o r a 24-element charge of aluminum alloy clad, tub- U02 fuel elements have been fabricated preparatory t o KER loop irradiation at 2 b 0 C. This will be the first large-scale irradiation of a tubular In preliminary corrosion tests the new Amz alloy, 19&, continues t o surpass all other aluminum alloys tested. 2. Chemical Research and Development Optimism concerning adequate uranium decontamination in a two-cycle Purex process continues. Dissolution of the hollow I and E fuel elements will be faster than f o r solid elements, but not in proportion t o the surface area. CPD will be helped in the UO Plant operation by: new understanding of stresses in the troublesame calciner paddle ( 2 ) potential increase in throughput by a higher temperature Urw feed In support of the plutonium recycle p r o m , there is progress in: (1) ion exchange treatment of simulated recycle f'uel solutions. (2) cryolite reduction preparation of &-A1 alloy. appropriate bleed-off of higher plutonium isotopes in reprocessing. recovery of plutonium from the possible Pu02-i2npregiated graphite

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The Zirflex process does not handle well the dissolution of zirconium or Wrcaloy end plugs of fuel elements; the surface to volume ratio is unf‘avomble, and the parts also acquire a protective uranium coating. Tbe use of M-388 fuel element jackets in production reactors would not seriously affect the distribution of radioisotopes in the effluent. Improved monitoring methods have shown up radioactive zinc, manganese, and cesium in vegetation in the irrlsted area where water is taken from the Columbia R i v e r below Hsnford. There is sane transfer to milk and to humans; this will require careful follow-up. Coating wastes, mixed d t h sodium silicate, can be caused to gel rapidly upon discharge to an open pit. may be aa attractive disposal method. mere is a u scale effort to study methods of recovering ~ $ 5 f r o m If the gel proves to be stable, this Two large pieces of apparatus to gather data pertaining to the nuclear safety of present production reactors were put in place in the Experimental Reactor BUding’and theoretical studies to be used in interpreting results were advanced. The program to provide reactivlty data for various lattices for IPR design scoping neared completion of the first phase:- measurements on a large diameter (1.66 inches) solid, metallic, natural uranium fuel Construction has started on two, heavy isotope, mass spectrameters; one for the CAD program, and the second for use in other HM3 programs. current construction of the two instruments allows efficient use of The temperature coefficient measurements on the PBPR lattice with cluster elements were extended to a fuel temperature of 400’ C but no significant differences from projection of lower temperature measurements were observed. The fast effect, and resonance escape probabllity, needed to calculate the conversion ratio, were determined for a cluster oxide element in the PRPR lattice but experimenta,l difficulties have thrown doubt on the validity of the results. The experiment vfll be repeated using improved techniques. Doses of the magnitude of those received from cosmic rays have been measured with pocket ionization chambers using the pulse method.

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An outsize counter (100-pound plastic scintillator, 14-inchphotomultiplier tube) has been constructed f o r A malignant tumor developed in oxide i n the lung; this is the possible use i n truck, boat, or airplane the lung of a nowe given 0.003 p c Pu as third malipancy out of 300 ani.mals. 2b65 shows late accumulation in the hair. As extrapolated t o the human, it is unlikely that the hair will. be treated as the significant critical organ; if appropriate quantitative relationships exist, sampling of hair would be much simpler than trying t o determine the bone deposit of Zn65 Tecbnical and Other Services Of the four cases of suspected tampering with badges reported last month, one has been fUly resolved. Progress was made toward campany-wide uniformity in radi8tion protection at a New York meting of the Radiation Protection Study Gmup. There was another case of minor plutonium deposition in an employee, f o r a total of 207 cases. The average weekly emission of 11swas 3.5 curies. The fiasl. report on Operation.Poo1 was submitted t o the AEC. Progress on the Laboratories' projects was substantially on schedule, with 1. CA-658 - Shielded Personnel Monitoring Station. In bath cases, the delay was in portions of the project work outside the direct control of the Laboratories. The new weather forecasting service, giving recorded forecast by telephone, received 4,670 calls in September. A schedule of objective, program, goal and measurement highlights f o r balance of this year has been distributed t o Level 3 Operations. the

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APED, San Jose has submitted their plan for ck rg ing HAP0 for consulting services. The plan considers our Prime Contract requirements and establi she s the basis for billing as sai aries plus approved rate of overhead authorizing work t o APED drafted. The proposal is being studied and procedures f o r Preliminary analyses of test questionnaires issued i n connection with the paperwork surpey indicate there are no uniform opinions as t o the paperwork conditions i n HLO except that the feeling of being excessive is more frequently expressed a t higher levels of nanagement. The results of the two alternate questionnaires are being studied by Financial and Operations Research t o decide on the most appropriate procedure t o follow f o r all of BLO. Better Living Program pay increases effective October 1 are es td ted to At month's end the staff of the Word Laboratories Operation totaled 1162, including 494 exempt and 668 non-exempt employees. Preparations are underway f o r HLO participation in the 1958 Radiological Physics Fellowship Program, the AEC - m Summer Institute, and AFSWP Forty-eight exempt employees started the fall PBM-1 series and 3 PBM-1 instructors began the one-week instructor refresher course. Twenty-five technical papers, articles, and s2eeches and 4 press releases were processed f o r publication. The BLO Suggestion Board did no5 meet during the month of September. There a r e currently 30 suggestions pending action. The Wonacott case was judged t o De su3ject to arbitration ; the outcome may affect the Laboratories Operation indirectly. There a r e no new developments in the negotiations with the Regional Monitors and the Maki grievance case. One grievance was received durlng the month from a Radiation Monitor. Grievances processed since Janitary now t o t a l 17, including 1 non-unit

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There were no disabling injuries during the month. ment injuries were recorded with a frequency of 1.68 as compared t o 1.35 Thirty medical. treat - There were6 security violations in September.

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REACTOR AND FUELS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OPERATION Corrosion Tests of Aluminum i n Superheated Steam. A s the resistance of newly developed aluminum alloys t o intergranular corrosion i n deionized water and steam increases, the evaluation of the alloy resistance i n a reasonable length of time requires drastic test procedures. test using 500 psi steam a t 500 C currently i n use has given good discrimination and reproducibility. The following table compares several new alloys with the more familiar M-388and M-400. Comparison of Aluminum Alloys i n 500 C, 500 p s i Steam OK OK Blistered OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK 1% Ni, O.l$ Ti, Balance 99.9$ Al Four samples of each alloy were exposed. Inall cases the results were the same among the four samples.

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The excellent results with a l l o y 1 9 8 ~were gratifying i n several respects. I n view of demonstrated fabrication experience with M-388, the alloy can undoubtedly be formed i n t o cans by the usual techniques. not contain Be, found i n the Chalk River alloy, which might prove a health problem. It should be noted, however, the current test material i s part of a small test lot from Argonne. I n view of the wide variation in lots of AX)%, experience with larger melts of 198X will be required for conmarkedly inferfor i n corrosion resistance t o samples obtained from small ANL melts, even though both large melts were carefully made and i n excellent agreement with chemical analyses of the ANL melt. This alloy does Large l o t s of A 2 0 3 procured by two different vendors were Irradiation of Aluminum Clad Fuel Eleaents Autoclaved i n Chromic Acid. first two tubes of f u e l elements autoclaved i n chromic acid and irradiated under PT-IP-59A were discharged on schedule a t about 200 MWD/T. pieces were examined visually f o r unusual corrosion. appeared t o be nearly intact on all the pieces except Nos. 10 and 1 2 from the rear face. No localized corrosion was observed. Ceramic Coating of Uranium. Considerable progress bas been made i n the laboratory i n delineating and understanding the large number of process variables which must be controlled t o produce a sound ceramic coating on four-inch uranium slugs. Typical variables of importance include: surface preparation of the uranium, wetting of t h e uranium surface by the molten glass, pre-grinding of the glass t o the proper powder size, spraying techniques, coating thickness and composition, and firing temperature and time. The surfaces of slugs now being coated experimentally i n the laboratory a r e Future work will be concentrated on elia in a ting the Examination of M-388Jacketed Hot Spot Failure (*RM-197) Examination was continued on the can w a l l segments from t.he M-388 jacketad slug, from tube 3578-D, which failed July 4, 1957, a t about 300 MWD/T. Samples, f o r Chemical and Powder Camera studies, were removed fror! points near t h e rupture. The diffusion compound on the inside of the can wall in the heat affected area w a s identified as UA13 by x-ray (Powder Camera) techniques. Post-Irradiation Examination of Thoriim Oralloy (RM-154) The first of three 0.388-inch diameter by 1.50 inches long thorium containing 2 . 1 w/o Oralloy samples which were irradiated i n %he MTR according t o GEH-3-17, were tested i n simple bend over a one inch gage length. The sample failed a t a 5060-pound load with a center deflection of 40 mils. surfaces of the samples were rough and brittle in appearance. The hardness of. the sample w a s approximately 59.4 RA compared t o an unirradiated hardness of 40.5 RA.

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Basic Metallurgy Studies Electron and Optical Microscopy. reactor cladding and fuel materials is a direct way of detecting radiation dawge i n these mcterials; optical and electron microscope techniques are being utilized. Replicas of the fracture surfaces of uranltlm irradiated t o nominal exposures of 150, 300, 600, and 1000 MWD/T (0.02, 0.03, 0.07, 0 . 1 a/o burnup) have been prepared. a t room temperature by impact in a special remotized facility. Examination and study of the replicas has just begun. The study of the microstructure of The rectangular specimens were broken Metallographic specimens of uranium which were precharacterized and r e p l i - cated prior to irradiation i n the E R are still being studied. The surface roughness, as might be expected, definitely increases with reactor exposure. Hardness values fora control spec ben and the specimens irradiated t o 0.03, 0.07, and 0.1 a/o burnup, re q ect iv ely, have been determined. The values are 68, 76, 78, and 75 Rockwell G. Fourier coefficients which characterize the (154) x-ray diffraction broadenmg have been determined for the three irradiated sainples. Although the broadening w.=s very slight, the first five coefficients for the three specimens …